Check Out the New and Improved Battleship: Captain Sonar

One of the games that I, unfortunately, was a little slow at getting to the table is the gem known as Captain Sonar, a game where 2 to 8 players engage in a strategic game of cat and mouse. Mines will be dropped and torpedoes will be launched. Teams will work in real time (or turn-by-turn, if preferred) to sink each other's vessel.

But it's no simple task. No! Only the bravest people should go on this daring adventure into the deep open waters of what still remains undiscovered.  

This is a really fun game that can be somewhat overwhelming at first. In the preferred real-time version of this game, the table is far from being a quiet place — quite the opposite actually! Everyone is shouting and discussing once the Captains shout "DIVE!" Though the game is busy, it lasts only about twenty minutes, which is — quite frankly — a great thing. The game offers the perfect amount of tension and decisions in such a short window, that it makes for a great time.

I highly recommend this game. While I know it won't fit everyone's niche, anyone who enjoys playing the original Battleship game and wants something a little more intense is sure to enjoy this beautifully produced game from Matagot.

Mombasa - The Surprisingly Stunning Board Game

One of the best board game purchases I've ever made is when I bought Mombasa. My wife and I were vacationing down in St. George, Utah with our 1-year-old. We stopped at one of the local game stores and saw Mombasa on sale for 35% off. We'd never heard of it before, but we looked it up and read some of the promising reviews. Jump forward a few months when we actually played it and we realized it is one of the best board games we've ever played.

PROS

- Resource management, worker placement, stocks... it's all mixed surprisingly well!

- While it looks complicated, it's really not. Think of it as a mix of Prodigals Club and Trickerion and you got this little baby. If you've played those, this shouldn't be too difficult.

- It's REALLY fun!

CONS

- Time consuming

- May be complicated for some players. The rule book took about an hour for us to get through, but it is really well-done.

- I wish more people could play

Overall, one of my absolute favorite games. It's really fun and looks way more complicated than it is. Highly Recommended!!!

One of 2016's Finest Gems: INIS

Two months ago I ordered Inis. Two months? Really? It's hard to believe that this game has been sitting on my shelf for so long before I even opened it up. I have to say that Inis took me by surprise. It's a remarkably simple to learn game with lots to offer. My only regret is that I wish I would have picked it up sooner.

Some of you might be wondering why two months? It's such a great game - WHY'D you wait two whole months?! It's simple really ... life is busy. One kid, another almost here, full-time school, part-time work, three internships ... I admit that it's taken me some time to get back in the groove of reviewing board games, mostly because I haven't had time to play many lately. But this past week I sat down with my wife; our son had just gone to bed, I finished looking through the rulebook, and we played through a game of what will surely be one of the most beautiful board games in our collection for many years to come.

Inis is a game filled with conquest, adventure, and conflict. We absolutely loved the board and how the uniquely shaped tiles pieced together almost like a puzzle. For the entire hour that it took us to play, we sure enjoyed the visual feast!

The game play could not be more simple: play one of the drafted cards, claim a token, or pass.

It didn't take long to understand how the game was played, or what we needed to accomplish in order to win. The simple gameplay, while at times repetetive, always felt fresh - in my opinion - and I'm excited to play it with more people.

Inis is definitely one of 2016's finest gems. Pick up a copy and enjoy the Celtic paradise it so beautifully captures!

Showdown in Dice Town

Over the weekend I dusted off my copy of Dice Town. By the end of the game the only thought on my mind was "Why haven't we been playing this more?" It's not that we hadn't had fun with the game in the past, but our recent play was a good reminder of just how much fun it is. Dice Town will be hitting our table much more often, and we are very excited about it.

Dice Town is a very simple game where players use "poker dice" (dice with sides similar to a poker hand) to earn gold, rob the bank, obtain items from the General Store, steal items from other players, become the sheriff, and claim property. Each round consists of players rolling their dice in their own cup, secretly selecting one to keep. If they want to keep more, they must pay one dollar per extra dice kept; everyone begins the game with a set amount of money. After players have chosen which dice to keep they then reveal them and the rolling continues until everyone has all their dice set. 

Players are trying to win certain objectives on the board. For example, after the dice-rolling phase is complete, whoever has the most 9's on their saved dice gets to collect gold; the player with the most 10's gets to rob the bank, and the player with the most Q's gets to steal a card from another player. The player with the most J's gets to visit the General Store. K's determine who becomes the next sheriff. The best poker hand determines who obtains the property cards.

The game ends once all gold is gone or once all property cards have been claimed. Points are then tallied - 1 for each gold nugget, 1 for every two dollars, 5 for being the sheriff at the end of the game, and then whatever points specified by any cards collected from the General Store and also the differing property cards.

We played with four people over the weekend, and while it was a lot of fun it did take a little bit of time. I would say that the game is not too long, but there were times while we were playing that players took a while to make their decision about which dice to keep. Other than that the game flows very smoothly. Determining who gets what from their dice is very fast and easy. Overall, Dice Town is a lot of fun and a showdown worth playing.

Looking Behind the Curtain of TRICKERION

I was finally able to open, learn, and play my copy of Trickerion: Legends of Illusion. My wife and I played the basic game on Friday, and the "Dark Alley" expansion with the game on Sunday. After playing through it twice, my opinion stands as this: I did enjoy it, and I am excited to play it again. Join me on the stage as we pull back the curtain on this world of trickery and mystery, and uncover the deep dark secrets of Trickerion!

What is the overall experience like?

Trickerion happens to be a pretty hefty game, and by this I mean that there is a lot of stuff going on! The picture above came from when my wife and I played it the first time. Even without the "Dark Alley" expansion the game took up most of our table. We even adjusted things around to work better with the space ... the above picture was really the best we could do.

Even though there are a lot of different components, and the board and player boards take up a lot of space, the concept behind Trickerion is really quite simple and compelling: Players are magicians competing to be the top performer. They higher specialists, sending them around the town to higher other people, go to the bank to get money, learn new magic tricks, purchase components for the tricks, etc ... Once a trick is learned, or purchased, players can send their specialists or apprentices to their workshop to prepare the trick. If they have purchased the correct components to prepare it, that trick is ready to perform.

During the rounds you'll be collecting components, preparing tricks, and performing them. There are many other small details here, and other things you can do like obtaining special cards that effect the gameplay drastically ("Dark Alley" expansion), as well as other factors that have an effect on the different rounds. Despite all these un-noted things here, the goal of the game is to get fame points. This is mainly achieved by performing tricks. The more fame points you receive, the better the tricks you can learn as the game progresses.

Both times we played this game, we really enjoyed it. It took us some time (a few rounds) to familiarize ourselves enough with the game before we really knew what was going on. By the second game we understood what to do a lot better.

Some things we liked

• The art on the boards, cards, components ... it's all very well done and beautiful 
• It was really cool how they incorporated the score track to be seats in the theater
• Solid worker placement - there was just enough tension that it made things interesting
• The theme really pulled through for us (magicians ... who doesn't like that, right?)

Some things we didn't

• We usually have no problem with long games, but this one was pretty time consuming. There was a lot of AP (Analysis Paralysis), which played into the long play time
• I wish that this game was more focused around components for the tricks, that you don't need a certain number of fame points to learn better tricks. Don't get me wrong, by the second play through we had better strategies and got a ton more points! I just think it could be executed a little better. A part of me wishes that you didn't need more fame points to get better tricks because then there would be a lot of more performances during the game, but I realize this will probably change the more we play it, and the more players that we play it with. I just want to perform magic!

So there you go ...

Trickerion is good. It's great! We really do like it. Despite the few negatives (which will probably all change the more the game is played), this is a very solid game that we enjoyed. While at times it felt long, it also kept the fun going. This is definitely one to recommend, but not just to anyone. If you know someone who likes a good challenge, a board game, and has fun learning  (because this game has a lot going on), then this might be for that friend of yours, or even for you.

What You Should be Looking for in a Game Table

"The other night my board game told me that I needed to purchase another table. Funny...it had always been the other way around."

For a long time I've convinced myself that it's time to buy a new board game, another board game, and when that's happened, another one. I have to limit my visits to board game stores because I know the moment I walk in I'll see a board game that I immediately want to buy - HAVE to buy. What if it's not there the next time? What if it goes out of print? What if this? What if that? The thing that I have not often thought of (and quite frankly, something that rarely comes up), is the thought of buying a new table. But as I was sitting down to play Trickerion: Legends of Illusion the other night (a review that will be coming shortly), we were having quite a hard time fitting everything in the space that we had. Even after rearranging the boards and components we were still having trouble balancing everything, and it was frustrating.

There is no magic size!

It's difficult to base a game table size off of board game size alone. As of today, there is no standard size for board games. Some are big and take up a lot of space. Others don't need very much room at all. Unless all your board games are near the same size, it can be hard to know what size table to get based off what size of board games you will be playing. Buy a table that's too big, and you'll be struggling to reach game components. Get one that's too small, and the board won't even fit.

Of course, there is always the option of getting a table that adjusts in size (an option that is becoming more common among gamers).

Here are some questions to consider when trying to find that right size table:

• How many people do I usually play games with?
• Do my games generally have a lot of components?
• Do I prefer a round or rectangle table?

Also, check out these different sizes and see what you think!

Round Tables (measurements are equal to the diameter of the table)

• 36" seats 4 people comfortably
• 42" seats 5
• 54" seats 6
• 60" seats 8

Rectangular Tables

• 30"x48" seats 4 people comfortably
• 30"x72" seats 6
• 30"x96" seats 8 (10 if you include the ends)

The Game that Fueled my Addiction

Why do I do it to myself? Why is it so satisfying to walk into that little store on the corner? I walk in and my eyes are drawn to the shelves lined with board games like a beautiful feast. And I'm hungry...OH yes, I am very very hungry. But it's a hunger that never seems to stop. My bank account wishes it would, or at least that is what I keep trying to tell myself.

I walked into the local board game store about a month ago, hoping to find a small gift for my boss. I told myself, "You're not buying a game for you. No. No. No. You already bought some just the other day." It was pretty easy to find the perfect game for my boss. Before I went to the register, one of the store associates came up to me and showed me a game I had never heard of. That game was Gravwell, and yes, I did end up walking out with it.

Gravwell is a pretty interesting racing-style space board game. Players use cards to progress along the track. The catch is that this game is all about gravity, and the card that you play is in reference to the nearest object. So let's say you play a card that says to move forward five spaces. Well, if there is a player behind you that is closer than the player in front of you, you would move backwards five spaces.

There are also cards that move you away from the nearest object, so in this case you would move forward because it is in the direction away from the nearest player.

This game is quite fun, 1-4 players, and very easy to learn. Players select from their hand the card they would like to play, and then reveal them simultaneously. The cards show a number with a symbol which identifies the number of spaces and what type of movement (towards, away, and tractor beam), and also a letter which identifies an element. The ships in this game are fueled by the elements that you have mined from nearby astroids. Once the cards are revealed, the player whose card is closest to A resolves their movement first, then the player with the next closest, so on and so forth. Right away plans can be mixed up. Maybe you were planning to move away from the nearest person because they were behind you, but they played a card that goes first and passes you. Now the nearest person is in front of you and because you played a card that moves you away from that person, you are going to move backwards.

I was happy when I walked out of that game store with Gravwell in hand. My wife and I have had a lot of fun with it. No, we don't regret this purchase.

And yes, I have made many more trips to the game store since.